Front Range
Snowpackkevin Sturmer · Dec 11, 2016 · Front Range
Weather
Upper Hidden Valley 11,800 ft. east Aspect 24 degree slope wind out of the WNW 25-35 mph, heavy snow transport overcast sky with moderate S2 snowfall
Snowpack
30-40cm new snow overnight with storm slab problem in the morning. By mid afternoon strong winds, moderate snowfall, and extreme transport quickly formed stiff wind slab and buried these slabs. Afternoon tour revealed lots of whooping and cracking particularly when travel by trees or large rocks. Hand pits revealed a 1 finger hard wind slab with unconsolidated small grains as the weak layer. Wind slabs were created and grew rapidly as the day progressed. Stiff wind slabs will be likely tomorrow that will prove to be unsupportable by the deeper, unconsolidated snow.